Jim Salinger: Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year
Climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger has been named Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.
Jim Salinger
The Dunedin-born academic is currently an Adjunct Research Fellow at the School of Geography, Environmental and Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington.
The awards were announced at a function in Auckland. Jim told J-Wire they are akin to the Academy Awards as the winners are told of their success at the event.
He said: “It was a huge surprise and humbling honour. But it is great in that science and climate science are recognised, and in a sense, so are all my colleagues, both nationally and internationally. I stand on the shoulders of those that have gone before. Tomorrow, I will find out from the NZA awards organisation what they expect of me, but I am certain they will wish me to advocate and educate the generations on climate issues and how we can make positive change incrementally.”
He has been studying climate change for fifty years and has published over 200 papers and four books on the subject.
In 2007, the IPPC – European Environment Agency won the Nobel Prize. Jim had been a contributor to the Agency’s research.
Currently, Jim Salinger is the International Climate Change Expert at the Climate Reference Group in Queenstown-Lakes District Council and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Expert on Climate Change on agriculture and fisheries.
In 2015, he was a Visiting Professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Haifa.
This is the fifteenth year that the Kiwibank awards have been presented, and they are among the most prestigious accolades that can bestowed on New Zealanders.
